Music up close and personal

The Bein Inn is attracting world-class musicians and letting you get face to face with them. Dominic Roskrow reoprts

Imagine the scene. It's late afternoon and you've just completed an exhilarating round of golf on one of Perth's many courses. You've returned to your hotel, a cosy enough place nestling in Glenfarg, and you're about to ask for your key when you notice someone sipping tea in one of the
lounge's sofas.

He glances up and says ‘hi'. He's clearly American but his face is familiar. You definitely know him from somewhere. The it comes to you and you realise it's just a resemblance as you head off to your room. He looked a lot like Curtis Stigers. A lot. But it couldn't be, could it?

It could if you were staying at the Bein Inn. Or any number of other internationally renowned musicians who have caught the Bein bug and agreed to go eyeball to eyeball with one of the most unusual audiences in the world.

The Bein Inn is – or at least was – a fairly typical low to medium price hotel in Scotland. The food's okay, the accommodation's adequate, the staff are friendly. But in recent years it has set itself apart from much of the surrounding competition by focusing on rock music.

It all started when new owner David Mundell looked at ways at turning the business around. He decided to convert the downstairs bar in to a rock memorabilia bar using posters, tickets and momentos reflecting his musical tastes. He started getting autographed guitar scratch boards, which were placed behind the bar.

And within time he moved on to staging local acts.

“I started to build up contacts and ov...

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• By : Dominic Roskrow
• In : Best of Scotland
• Issue : 11
• Page : 36
• Words : 575